2012 marked the 150th anniversary of the Oregon Reports and this important series has grown to 350 volumes, supplemented by 248 volumes of the Court of Appeals reports and 18 volumes of the Tax Court reports. These collections of judicial opinions are an important resource, documenting the social history of the Territory and the State of Oregon. In their pages one can trace the development of Oregon's political and economic institutions; its family structures, murders, and real estate deals; acts of discrimination, as well as acts of redress and remedy.

Please join us in celebration of these remarkable documents of social history by reading the story of how they came to be. Chief Justice Thomas A. Balmer has graciously provided the Law Library with his two-part essay on the history of the Oregon Reports. Part one, The Oregon Reports, 1862-1900: A Brief History (2006), discusses the beginnings of the Oregon Reports, including the work of John G. Wilson and the controversial switch to state control over printing the Reports beginning in 1889. A Brief History of the Oregon Reports (Part 2 of 2) (2008), provides an examination of the Oregon Reports from 1900 forward. This second part focuses on competing publications in the early 20th Century, Bancroft-Whitney's 18-year tenure as publisher of the Oregon Reports, and the how control over publication of the Reports has evolved to present day.

Chief Justice Balmer's essays on the history of the Oregon Reports are provided by following the links below. These essays were originally published in 1 Oregon Appellate Almanac 157 (2006) and 3 Oregon Appellate Almanac 163 (2008).